


Excerpt from Darkmoon Blade

by Aondeug



Category: Dark Souls (Video Games)
Genre: Anthropology, Other, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 01:31:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 74
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6833350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aondeug/pseuds/Aondeug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The Blades of the Darkmoon are a mysterious miracle using order of knights begun in the city of Anor Londo. Legend has it that the knights were formed by the moon god Gwyndolin, the thirdborn son of Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. The signature miracle of the Blades is a work entitled Darkmoon Blade. The following is a poem from the work typically recited during combat usage of the miracle. Notes about the work itself are provided prior to the excerpt."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Excerpt from Darkmoon Blade

**Author's Note:**

> Miracles are a well known genre of work found in Carim. Our own miracles tend to be of epic poem form, telling the tales of gods and saints entirely in verse. However the legendary home of miracles Anor Londo has a different style altogether. Anor Londic miracles tend to transition from prose to verse and then back again. Whereas verse makes up the whole of miracles in Carim, in Anor Londo verse has a specific purpose. Verse is used to represent dialogues, monologues, homages, mourning, and prophecies. The miracle we are looking at today follows this general style.
> 
>  
> 
> The miracle in question is Darkmoon Blade. It is the signature weapon of choice of the Blades of the Darkmoon, a knight order founded in Anor Londo which may be the predecessor to the Blue Sentinels now commonly found throughout the kingdoms. While it is a miracle, the resulting blessing bears seemingly more in common with sorcery than it does the light based magic of the churches. Recitation of the work with the use of either a sacred talisman or chime creates a blue light that surrounds the weapon in one's hand. The color is quite like that of Vinheim's Magic Weapon sorcery, though a darker blue. Functionally it has the same weaknesses and strengths of the various Magic Weapon sorceries taught in academies. However, Darkmoon Blade is distinctly not a formula. It is quite certainly a miracle text which only works when the faithful chant it.
> 
>  
> 
> Darkmoon Blade tells the tale of the rise of the Darksun Gwyndolin to power. It begins with a rather familiar description of the coming of an end to an age of fire and the disappearance of the Lord Gwyn. However the work goes on to tell of the banishment of Gwyndolin's eldest brother, a mysterious war god of whom we know little. As well as of the elopement of his sister with a god of flame and the general abandonment of the city by its various knights. Gwyndolin, unwilling to abandon his father's city and wishes, stands up and takes the mantle not of king or even queen, for he is said by many to be a goddess, but instead that of knight captain. Organizing the remaining knights of the city, including the city's executioner and his father's last remaining chief knight, Gwyndolin begins the Blades of the Darkmoon. Their purpose is to protect the city of Anor Londo and to continue on the rule of the Lord of Sunlight, even if only as a shadow of its former self. Furthermore, the work goes on to detail that Gwyndolin's knights are not to simply defend Anor Londo. They are to spread forth across the many kingdoms of the world, keeping the peace and exacting justice. The work ends with his declaration that the Blades are to bring the law of Anor Londo to the world as he blesses his arrows with the blue light of what would become the Darkmoon Blade miracle.
> 
>  
> 
> As with most miracles the whole of the text is not typically recited when put into use. The exception appears to be one extant account of the whole work being recited upon further initiations in the order. Whatever the case may be the most common copies of the work are not whole copies, but instead small excerpts. These excerpts tend to include the following poem, or even consist of nothing but the poem. This poem is what tends to be recited when performing the miracle in battle. It is a portion of the verse sections from the end of the work. The poem in particular is recited by one of his first knights, a deformed woman who would go on to be his right hand. Depending on the immediacy of the situation the final two lines of the work may be all that is recited. These notes made I present this fragment of the Darkmoon Blade miracle. 
> 
> \- Rickert of Carim

The fire fades

father’s fears

rushing in

rending minds

tearing flesh

men rising up

calling out

begging, praying

so easy to rouse

story falling

from your lips

pale and shadowy

telling of flame

a continuing age

the crowning of kings

of ash and cinder

stoking of the kiln

and the men come

and you rule

and the fire burns

an honorable son.

Hail the sun, and its flame!

Hail the moon, and its flame!


End file.
